Talks About Wine: Lots of Words and Little Wine

Talking about wine has now become an important custom of our society, even the
simple showing off of a minimal knowledge of such label or something represents
a sign of distinction, or better to say, seems to be a sign of distinction, in
any group of individuals. Giving the impression of being great experts about
something, to appear superior to others, even with the simple, however
deprecable, purpose of humiliating one's interlocutors, seems to be one of the
main characteristics of people's behaviors. Wine, unfortunately, being a trendy
and common subject, is no exception to that.

In the past few years we also had the invasion of wine super-experts in
every channel's TV shows, as well as in magazines and newspapers, that in a
sense they could also positively contribute to the spreading of wine culture,
and sometimes, maybe, they also contribute in a determinant way to the
increasing of confusion about this subject and to have people getting
uninterested, giving the impression that wine is a beverage reserved to a group
of haughty and elected individuals having their mouths always full of words
which say nothing and with little wine in their glasses. It is probably natural
to ask oneself whether to be a wine expert is just enough to make an abundant
use of words having an effect, a very common custom, such as the abused
term fruity, as well as other absolutely generic and obvious terms, which
say absolutely nothing about any wine and they certainly do not describe it
saved when it is supported by other specific and qualified words. We truly wish
a wine is fruity, indeed, it is a beverage produced by the fermentation of
a fruit juice, grape, and therefore it would be preoccupying, very
preoccupying, in case a wine would not have any aroma resembling the ones of
fruits.

Moreover, what can be said about those comments full of pompous and sumptuous
words, full of rhetorical terms, that soon after having read or heard them, one
inevitably ends up asking himself or herself whether they were talking about
wine or who knows about what. Sometimes they are intentionally full of terms,
even inappropriate ones, which say nothing, which are sometimes ridiculous, and
even beyond that, and smiling is really the least thing everyone can do.
Reading or listening to those descriptions about wine, one can also end up
thinking or believing wines are all the same because of the high frequency of
certain terms or expressions. Nevertheless, it is not like that. Everyone
having a sufficient culture about wine and tasted, while paying attention, what
he or she had in the glass, knows it is not like that. There are differences
from wine to wine that make each one of them unique, such as the area of
origin, or cru, wines produced with the very same grapes but in
different areas, even distant few kilometers one from each other, give
different wines, differences which are unfortunately ignored by some summary
descriptions and definitions having the sole purpose of confusing and
homologating a whole category of products.

This trend is also found, unfortunately, among consumers which try to emulate
the super-expert, in the hope to appear like that, by repeating and filling
their mouths with the very same words. This can be seen in any restaurant
paying enough attention to wine, and watching what happens when a client orders
his or her wine. In the beginning, mainly when he or she is in company, tries
to make the choice by using expert terms and, sometimes, with arrogance as
well, even trying to humiliate the person who is in charge of serving wine.
Then, when he or she realizes that person is sufficiently competent about wine
and probably has a better knowledge than his or her, there is a change in
behavior and gets lost while ending up to ask advices and help to the person in
charge of serving wine.

The same is also true for the majority of things about the world of wine, in
particular, the habit and the insistence of having any wine decanted, both
young and aged, according to a supposed rule distinguishing real
connoisseurs. It seems that the more a wine is important, and for important
everyone may think of what he or she wants, from the preferred wine to a very
expensive one, and the more it needs to be decanted. Maybe it is the decanting
ceremony to enchant people, unfortunately most of the times it is done in a
wrong way, however it should be remembered the procedure of decanting, the term
itself suggests its purpose, is used to separate wine from its sediments in
order to have a limpid and drinkable liquid. Many support the idea, and they
certainly are not wrong, that decanting is very useful for oxygenating a wine
which has spent a very long time in a bottle and this operation would be
capable of awakening it from its torpor. It should be considered that for
some wines, in particular the ones aged for a very long time, any sudden
oxygenation, such as the one provoked by decanting, can irreparably damage them
and, however, it dissolves in few moments the long and patient work of time. In
case it is really needed to oxygenate a wine, one should consider the many
types of glasses available from any producer and, thanks to their shapes and
volumes, they allow a perfect oxygenation of any wine.

The same also happens with wines produced with the famous grapes, the ones
everyone talks about, the only ones, it seems, capable of making good wine, as
well as the supposed miracles that only the fermentation and aging in cask
could make on wine. There is still a strong and common belief that the quality
of wine should inevitably pass for a barrique and that should be made
with certain grapes. In case a wine has pronounced wood aromas therefore it
certainly has quality. In case a wine is aged in a cask therefore it is
important, in case it was made with certain grapes therefore it must be a great
wine. These prejudices, common beliefs, seem to be very hard to change and it
is sad to see that only few people, when they are about to taste a wine, pay
attention to the place of origin and to the specific area where the wine was
produced, once again, it should be considered as one of the real and proper
factors of quality. The only positive thing is that someone is trying to ask
himself or herself about those wines and look beyond that while discovering, or
better to say, rediscovering, those wines produced with local grapes from
certain places and that only in those places are capable of giving the very
best of them.

Of course there cannot be any dispute about personal taste and preference,
indeed, it is not good what it is said to be good, but first of all, it is good
what it is liked. The concept of goodness, as well as of beauty, is so abstract
and undefinable that everyone has proper ways and definitions not always
agreeable by others. Anyway it should be good that everyone would have his or
her concept of good and, in particular, it should be the result of personal
tastes and preferences and not other's. The next time you hear someone saying a
wine is fruity, without giving any other specification about its quality,
besides resenting of the fact it is a term which does not help at all and does
not say anything, take your glass and try yourself to taste that wine, always
with moderation, and let your senses to tell you about it. After all wine is a
beverage which needs senses in order to be understood; words, no matter how
beautiful they are, will never be right, they can only give a vague idea.

MailBox

In this column are published our reader's mail. If you have any comment or any
question or just want to express your opinion about wine, send your letters to
our editorial or fill in
the form available at
our site.

In your magazine's pages I often read about your opinion in favor of
local grapes as opposed to the international ones. What's wrong in preferring
wines produced with international grapes and why should the ones produced with
local grapes be better?

Christofer Leighton -- Berkshire (England)

Dear reader, we do not think wines produced with local or
autochthonous grapes are better than the ones produced with
international grapes and we do not think we supported this
hypothesis. The so called international grapes are capable of
producing great wines and this is certainly indisputable. What we
think is that it is often believed any wine in order to be good must
be produced with these grapes without even considering that quality
and goodness of wine is also the result of many factors, of which
grape, in particular its quality, is certainly one of the most
important ones, while it is often forgotten the fundamental
role played by the area of origin where the grapes were cultivated.
There is nothing wrong in preferring wines produced with
international grapes (it is enough to take a look at our
Wines Guide and see
many wines which scored five diamonds are made with international
grapes, therefore we too like them), however we think it is good, in
the sake of a cultural richness, to know, and to recognize, also the
vast heritage of autochthonous grapes that every part of the world
can offer and that only in those places are capable of giving the
best of them. This is true, of course, provided there are other
indispensable conditions for making good wine as well. In case we
consider Cabernet Sauvignon grape, and the very same considerations
are valid for any other grape, either international or not, alone it
is not a guarantee of quality. In case this grape it is being
cultivated in a very speculative way, therefore with high yields, in
an area not very suitable for viticulture and with unfavorable
microclimatic conditions, the result will be a mediocre wine. Indeed
the same grape, properly cultivated, will be capable of giving wines
having a very different quality and the area of origin will make a
unique and fundamental factor, not reproducible elsewhere.

As autumn is about to come there is also the return of nouveau
wines which are usually available after some weeks from harvesting. How are
nouveau wines produced?

Luca Cappelli -- Ascoli Piceno (Italy)

Nouveau wines, of which Beaujolais Nouveau, or
Beaujolais Primeur, is the most famous example, are
produced with a specific technique called carbonic maceration.
This process, based on the researches and experiments French
Michel Flanzy made in 1936, consists on intracellular fermentation of
grapes in tanks filled of carbon dioxide. Grapes are put in these
tanks, while paying scrupulous attention of not breaking berries and
to leave them intact. Tanks are then sealed and filled with carbon
dioxide which starts the fermentation of sugar inside of berries and
therefore a little quantity of ethyl alcohol is produced. Moreover,
this fermentation allows the extraction of aromatic substances from
the skin as well as a very little quantity of tannins. The duration
of the process depends by temperature and can be from one to three
weeks and at the end of this period grapes are being removed from
tanks and vinified. Wines produced in this way are usually very
aromatic, with very deep colors and little quantities of tannins,
therefore not astringent; characteristics which allow a service at
low temperatures, just like white wines. Grapes typically used for
the production of wines with carbonic maceration are red, whereas
white berried grapes are not usually processed with this method
because they produce some unpleasing aromas. In France, by law,
nouveaux wines are commercialized from the third Thursday of
November, whereas in Italy the commercialization is allowed from the
6th of November.

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